


Heart of Ice

by Erikthonius



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-13
Updated: 2018-04-13
Packaged: 2019-04-22 07:30:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,527
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14303820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Erikthonius/pseuds/Erikthonius
Summary: Bianca loved her little brother, but she had to let him go.





	Heart of Ice

“It is like my heart is ice, and only his smile can melt it.”

She would think these thoughts when the black moods took hold of her. The world would seem so pointless, like there was nothing in it but cruelty and cold indifference. Even when she was little, she would grow serious and her face would darken. Her mother would sigh and think, “She is like her father, so beautiful, but so sad.” Then her baby brother would come toddling into the room, babbling nonsense, and Bianca would smile again.

As they grew older, Bianca would love to bring her brother trinkets, sometimes just shiny stones, telling him that they were jewels from a pirate’s treasure chest. Nico’s dark brown eyes would grow large and start to shine, his beautiful mouth would shape itself into a grin, and Bianca felt like the sun was melting that glacier in her chest.

Then came that awful night, the worst darkness she’d ever had. From the next room, she could hear Papa pleading and Mama proudly refusing, then a terrible crash, as if lightning had struck the roof of their hotel. She and Nico clung to each other, first in fright, then in despair as they heard Papa sobbing out Mama’s name, “Maria! Maria! Damn you brother, how could you do this to me?” Bianca shook with terror as she heard her Papa’s voice, always so kind, speaking to someone in a tone icier than her heart had ever been, but who? It had just been her Mama and Papa in the room, and no-one else in the suite but Bianca and her brother. She heard Papa saying, “Take them; you know where. They’ll be safe.” 

Then a man she’d never seen before came into the room. He was wearing a suit and carrying a briefcase. He approached the children, and his words were cold, and his voice was flat, as if he didn’t care about anyone or anything. “Your father sent me to look after you. He has business, family business to sort out. You must come with me, but first dry your tears and have a drink of water.” The two children shied away, but there was something in the man’s face that told them not to speak or disobey. Like the polite children they were, they took the proffered cups, where had they come from? He hadn’t been carrying them when he entered the room. They drank, and everything grew hazy.

==============

She was in a hotel room, a very nice hotel. How did she get here? Who was that boy, nine? ten? years old bursting into the room? She looked into his shining brown eyes as he called her name. “Bianca, Bianca, they have a pirate ship in the lobby!” Her heart ached with joy at the grin on his face. Her beloved Nico, how could she forget her brother for even a moment? Why was everything else so hazy?

Then the dreams came. Night after night, they whispered secrets to her, who she was, what she and her brother were, what had happened before they came to this hotel, and what they might become. As she slept, she cried out, “How can I keep my little Nico safe from this?” but the dreams only replied in whispers, “You cannot keep him safe, you won’t live to see him happy.” and then another voice, still cruel, but less harsh than the first. “He will never be safe and happy with you, he can only be happy in another’s care.”

And so she would wake up, each morning just like the previous, with ice in her heart. Then Nico would burst into her room, excited to play in the bright lobby, and the ice would melt. She schooled her face so that he never saw her ache. It hurt her to keep even that small part of herself secret from him, but she thought, “He can never see me sad. His heart is too tender, it would break. It is selfish of me to do this, but if he ever lost that smile, I couldn’t live.” And the boy was so easy to please, so excited. At first it was playing on the “pirate ship” (actually it was just a part of the lobby decorated to look like the deck of any boat), and then one day he came bursting in with a deck of cards and a handful of small figurines. 

“It’s called Mythomagic, and you play it with the cards and the figures, and it’s like those stories that...that… Bianca, who would read us those stories of gods and goddesses and heroes?”

“Silly Nico, Mama would read us those stories, don’t you remember?”

“Of course, how could I forget? Well, Jack taught me how to play, and I won the very first time, and then I won all of these from Louis and Mike and Sam,” he said proudly, showing his stash of figures.

Bianca smiled, not showing how thrilled she was. Nico was usually so shy around the other boys; she didn’t even think he knew any of their names. “Why don’t you go and win more treasure, fratellino?”

“Hmph, you just want to go to the archery range again,” he smirked, but then he ran out of the room, laughing. Her heart warmed at the sight. Then she would go off to the archery range, and she would imagine that all the targets she sank the arrows into were the cruel mocking voices in her dreams.

==============

This was the pattern of days until one day, the man in the suit showed up again. He just walked up to them and said, “It’s time to go to school,” and they walked out of the hotel and to a waiting car. The children blinked as they stepped into the sunlight, and Bianca wondered how many days? weeks? they’d been in that garish hotel. They were both nervous as they got into the back seat of the car, but once again the man was impossible to disobey. After about an hour into the drive, Nico fell asleep, but Bianca stayed awake, knowing that those awful whispering dreams were waiting for her if she dozed. She just looked out the window at the other cars, why did they look so strange? In the front seat, the man in the suit muttered to himself as he drove, “Things to do, prophecies to fulfill, souls to flay.”

==============

Westover Academy was a military academy and thus Hell. There was a part of Bianca that seemed to think it appropriate that she and Nico were in Hell, although she couldn’t recall why, almost as if the joke were a part of some half-remembered dream. Poor Nico had it worse than she did; he was bullied for being so small, he cried every time there was a thunderstorm without ever knowing why, he hated that he and Bianca were made to stay in separate dorms, and why did that awful Dr. Thorn seem to have it in for him, for both of them really? The ice in her heart grew thicker, only melting a little when her brother bonded with some of the other more bullied boys over his Mythomagic game. She could never really understand how to play it, but it brought back a little of that smile. And then…

“Bianca, there’s something wrong with me,” he said, his voice so small and trembling.

“Fratellino, why do you say that?”

“I never look at the girls like the other boys do. I look at the boys, and I can’t stop looking…” he trailed off, looking down at his feet. Bianca couldn’t respond, She’d never seen him looking so afraid. She understood what he was saying, but she remembered vague scenes from her past of what happened to boys like that, how they were bullied and beaten and worse, and she froze, afraid to say anything.

When she didn’t reply, he shouted, “I’m disgusting, I’m a freak, you hate me!” He looked up at her, and her face was a frozen mask. He ran off before she could say anything. She wanted to tell him that she loved him, that she was just afraid for him, but the ice in her chest had become so thick that she could barely move, let alone utter a single word. When she knew he couldn’t see her, she collapsed onto a bench and sobbed, “My poor Nico, the dreams are right. How can I protect you? How can I save you?”

They didn’t see each other again that day, and the awful dream voices came back that night, whispering all night long, reminding her how impotent and fragile she was. She thought that she had calmed herself, but at breakfast, when she came up to him and said, “Nico, what you said…”, he pulled back and murmured stiffly, “You’ve been crying; I hurt you. Please forgive me, we’ll never talk about it again,” and shuffled off, his head down.

They didn’t have much chance to talk that day, between classes and preparations for the dance that night, but Bianca tried to smile at him every time they passed in the hallways. Eventually he could return a shy smile and look her in the eye. She regretted keeping herself from him all this time, but he could never find out how her heart had ached.

That night at the dance, their world turned upside down. First, the three strange teenagers showing up, then Dr. Thorn turning into some kind of monster. Then the running, then the Hunters. As they fled in terror, Bianca thought, “This is what the dreams meant. I’m going to be killed, and who will look after Nico? Please, just let me live until I know he’ll be safe, whatever gods there are!”

The terror in her heart eased a bit when she looked, first at this Percy who was so brave, so handsome, and then at how her brother looked at the green-eyed youth. “This is who will keep him safe and maybe even happy when I can’t. I can let him go now, but I just want to see my Nico smile and laugh again.”

Later, Artemis (thinking about how the sight of the goddess made her feel, Bianca thought, “If Nico is a freak, then I am truly his sister,” and smiled to herself) came to Bianca and said, “Child, I can see into your heart. Your father cannot defy the Fates, but I can offer you something that might enable you to live to see what you most desire. Be warned that there is a price.”

Bianca replied, “I only regret that Nico will feel betrayed.”

Artemis smiled at her. “I understand. Although he’d never believe me, I also have a brother that I’m very fond of for all that he annoys me. As part of my band, you must grow apart from your brother, but from time to time you can still show him how much you care for him.”

“In that case, I accept your offer.”

==============

On the quest, Bianca thought about Nico often, but tried to tell herself that he would be alright at Camp Half Blood, that he would make friends, that he could actually live his beloved Mythomagic game. The she saw the figurine. It was perfect, one last gift that might bring that beautiful smile to his lips. It was the one that he never had, ironic, given who their family was. She picked it up without thinking and…

==============

She found herself before the Judges. One of them, in white robes, with a circlet of gold on his head and malice in his eyes, smiled at her, but it was a cold, calculating smile, as if he were totting her up like a balance sheet and seeing a serious profit for himself. “Do not think that your parentage will win you any favors, girl. Your father is busy with his own problems on your behalf. The best you can hope for is rebirth or Asphodel, since you haven’t really added anything to that quest of yours.”

She calmly replied, “I accept my sentence and ask for rebirth, but I humbly request that I be allowed to see my father briefly to pay my respects before it is carried out.”

A second judge, balding and wearing a doublet and hose replied, “Behold, a veritable Cordelia. Who are we to deny so dutiful a daughter’s request?”

The first judge just rolled his eyes and nodded in assent.

An old woman with a severe bun and carrying a math textbook stepped up to escort her. Bianca sized her up and said, “I liked you better in the suit, Alecto.” The old woman said, “Nice to be recognized, but come along, honey. Mustn’t keep your father waiting.”

==============

In his throne room, Hades was not pleased. No god was ever pleased to have those three particular guests; they were never good news, and the old ladies always left bits of fluff and yarn from their “knitting projects.” As Bianca entered, the three just seemed to be finishing a conversation with the god of the underworld, and he didn’t look happy about it. Facing Hades was Persephone, her face a stone mask. Bianca bowed to both gods and then addressed her father.

“Sir, I present myself, a dutiful daughter. I have accepted my fate with a dignity that I hope honors both my father and my mother (at this word, Persephone seemed to sniff slightly), and only ask one boon. May I see Nico happy before I’m reborn?”

Before Hades could reply, the old lady in the middle of the trio spoke up:

“We have plans for your brother. It will be some time before he smiles again, if at all. (The ice in Bianca’s chest grew at hearing that.) He will try to contact you before your rebirth, as is his right and his ability, but we don’t want you interfering with his true destiny.”

It was Persephone who interceded.

“I have need of someone to tend my garden here. I will keep the girl (she sneered as she said the word) away where her brother’s prying eyes won’t find her and see that she doesn’t cause trouble.”

Hades sighed and said, “Ladies, is this acceptable?”

The trio spoke as one. “Your wife will keep a close watch on your bastard daughter. It is acceptable.” The youngest (that being a relative term) of the trio muttered, “The way her thread feels now, we’d wind up with frostbitten fingers trying to rewind it anyway.” With that, they vanished.

Persephone walked briskly out of the throne room, not deigning to look at Bianca, so the girl hurried out after a hasty bow to Hades. It was only when they came to her garden that the goddess turned to Bianca with a surprisingly warm smile. “I’m sorry I had to put on that degrading show, but we have to keep up appearances. You are as lovely as your mother was.”

Bianca’s mouth fell open. Persephone looked at her intently and said, “But you have that same ice in your heart that your father does. I’m guessing that’s why you want to see your brother happy again. Only thing that helps, eh?”

Bianca continued to gape, so Persephone continued, partly to explain and partly to allow the girl time to recover. “I love your father, and I know that sometimes the only cure for his heartache is to fool around a little. Honestly, I think that’s just so he’ll fit in with his brothers, but unlike them, he’s a gentleman about it, so I really don’t mind, and frankly, Maria di Angelo was a lovely woman and an excellent house guest. Unfortunately, certain other Olympians, especially my mother, can’t understand, so I have to put on a little charade of jealousy for them. Also, if I put on a “wounded wife and bitter step-mother” show, those three old so-and-sos won’t put up a stink about you staying here while your brother finds his way. Now how about a cup of tea before we get to weeding?”

==============

It was not a bad way to spend the next half-decade or so, and time flowed more quickly in the Underworld, but Bianca still missed her brother dearly. Persephone was very sweet, actually a kind and loving step-mother, and would allow Bianca to gaze into an enchanted pool in her garden so that she could watch over her brother whenever he was standing in a shadow. At first, she would look after him every day, but it became harder and harder to do so. Her poor brother felt such pain over her death. It was made worse by how badly he’d fallen for Percy, who really couldn’t even grasp Nico’s feelings, let alone return them. That put a coating of rime in her chest. Then he ran away from camp. Bianca wanted to respond to his calls, but most of the time, the pain in his eyes would have made it too hard for her to respond even if she’d been allowed to. 

At last, she was able to show herself to him. Ah, he was growing so quickly; he was becoming such a handsome boy, but his eyes were so full of pain and loneliness, and she knew that she was only allowed to speak to him briefly, just three times. Most of the time she had to be content with just watching him, never able to speak to him. When he would step into the shade, she could see him, but each time, he just looked sadder and sadder. She saw his meeting with the god Pan and wanted to call out to him as she saw how dejected her brother was when the dying god gave blessings to each of the company save the son of Hades. She wanted to tell him that the reason Pan had no blessing to give him was that the god instead was receiving his own final blessing from Nico.

She was so proud of her brother when he faced their father and convinced him to come to the aid of the other Olympians; how brave he looked, leading the troops of the dead into battle. Now he could be welcomed into the family of Camp Half Blood, and maybe he could find enough joy to truly smile again. But no, it didn’t last, and he became an outcast again.

When he found and rescued their half-sister, Hazel, Bianca hoped that this might bring him some measure of happiness, and it seemed to, but he was now so cold, so aloof, always so brave, but so alone, committing acts of heroism, but always in the shadows, so that no-one ever knew.

Then he fell into Tartarus, and she felt like plunging into the River Styx and dissolving into oblivion, but Persephone restrained her. She could no longer bear to watch his agonies. Her stepmother would pass on tales of his bravery and his strength, but each time, it seemed like his suffering increased. His journey through Tartarus and being trapped in the bronze jar froze her heart colder than Cocytus, and it was only her rage at Cupid’s tormenting him that brought her back to herself. She thrilled at his bravery in bringing the Athena Parthenos across the world, but even then, she thought, even if he lives through this, he’ll never smile again. Her entire chest felt like a glacier. 

That night, she approached Persephone and said heavily, “I’m ready to be reborn. It’s obvious that the Fates never wanted him to be happy and never wanted my heart to unfreeze.”

Persephone just said, “Very well, but please wait until tomorrow. I’ll need you to do one more chore in the garden.”

Of course, one day in the Underworld is a bit longer aboveground.

Bianca approached her step-mother the next day with a dull expression and a heavy heart.

“Come have a look at this, dear.” the goddess murmured, pointing at the enchanted pool. It showed not her brother, but a tall blond boy with the bluest eyes Bianca had ever seen. He was picking poppies and braiding them into a circlet. He hid the circlet behind his back when he saw Nico walking slowly toward him.

“Hey you,” the blond boy said.

“What do you want, Solace?”

“I have something for you, Death Boy.”

“Stop calling me that.”

“Make me.”

“I’ll stop that mouth of yours,” said Nico and grabbed the other boy by the waist, pulling him closer and, to Bianca’s surprise, passionately kissing him.

They stayed locked together for quite a while, but when they broke, Nico was smirking. “Okay, Sunshine, what do you have for me?”

Will dropped the circlet of poppies onto Nico’s head. “A crown for the king of my heart.”

Nico just replied, “You are the biggest dork!” but the smile that seemed not just to fill his face but his entire body…

Was mirrored perfectly by his sister, who felt nothing but joyful warmth in her chest. She bowed to Persephone and said, “I’m ready to go now.”

**Author's Note:**

> My first posting.


End file.
